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Mike Thermos knows a thing or two about helping to stimulate the growth of a drag racing class. When the now-popular Pro Mod category was in its infancy, Thermos —then heading up nitrous oxide pioneer NOS—became Pro Mod’s biggest cheerleader and helped make racers like Bill Kuhlman, Scotty Cannon, Robbie Vandergriff, “Animal Jim” Feurer, Charles Carpenter and others household names. From those early days, the Pro Mod class has grown beyond everyone’s wildest expectations.

And now, some 30 years later, many stars from Pro Mod’s halcyon days will be on hand at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio to take part in a special “Pro Mod Legends” program as part of the Nitrous Supply NMRA/NMCA All-American Nationals.

Nitrous Supply, located in Huntington Beach, California, is a manufacturer of nitrous oxide systems and components, and was founded by Thermos in 2006 after his contractual obligations to his former company had ended.

At least two drag strips have publicly thrown in the towel for the 2020 season.

Motor Mile Dragway, the multi-purpose facility owned by the Hagan Family, and Saskatchewan International Dragway both announced on Friday there will be no 2020 season for them due to local regulations related to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Motor Mile Dragway is located in Radford, Va., where the state is on a stay at home mandate through June 10, 2020.

For 20 years CompetitionPlus.com has covered drag racing worldwide, but because of server space, we've had to remove those galleries from the magazine.

Since there are no races to cover presently, Roger Richards has opened up the vault to visit those days gone by. We will put up a new one each day, but for now, let's catch up on what we've rediscovered.

The Pro Comp concept had all the makings of a great concept on paper, but in reality the classification is one that became antiquated the moment the 1974 season began.

Pro Comp was a star destined to shine, a bridge covering the colossal gap which existed between sportsman racing and the nitro-burning division.

The semi-professional division was actually a salve to ease the sting of losing Top Gas eliminator earlier in the season while elevating many of the “overqualified” Comp eliminator entries.

Pro Comp featured a mix of the “everything to everybody” nature of sportsman drag racing with the cutthroat nature of professional racing’s heads up pro-tree format. Maybe cutthroat didn’t describe the nature of its followers, but it described the level of competition to a tee.

Like everyone else in California, Prudhomme’s under a stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic -- “the damndest thing I’ve ever seen out here” -- but the winner of 49 NHRA national events and four titles is far from inactive.

The San Diego resident, ranked No. 3 on the list of NHRA’s top all-time drivers, is wrapping up a new biography with author Elana Scheer called “Don Prudhomme: My Life Beyond the 1320.” And he’s eager, like everyone else involved in drag racing, to get back to the track for a faceful of nitromethane fumes as part of the John Force Racing operation.

“We’ve been kind of busy. We’ve got the writing part of the book done, which is about a year and a half’s work, and now we’re selecting the pictures,” he said. “I’m turning 79, I might as well tell the truth.

It's in the nature of a drag strip operator. Prepare to get slapped in the face by calamity, and once you make it through the tempest, there'll be another waiting for you. They are all too often gluttons for punishment as some would assume.

However, there are those such as second-generation drag strip owner Bill Bader Jr., who understand their destiny in giving fans a show worthy of their hard-earned entertainment dollars.

Almost a year ago, overwhelming rainstorms in the area did a convincing job of sinking his season. And now today, an ever-expanding pandemic of the Coronavirus threatens a second whammy.

CompetitionPlus.com Editor Bobby Bennett in his first assignment back on the job caught up with the straight-shooting Bader for a discussion of today's drag racing landscape, primarily from a track owner's point of view.

Six-time drag racing world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. will always pick the familiar confines of his JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro as his preferred mode of go-fast transportation. But for three years, from 2008-2010, Coughlin enjoyed the unique experience of hitting breakneck speeds driving an Olympic bobsled as part of the Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge.

"As I think back on those three events, that was actually pretty crazy," said Coughlin, who will pullback from full-time racing at the end of the year. "At the time, the competitor in you comes out and the way they set it up was NASCAR versus NHRA so we just kind of dove into the fight. It probably was a bit insane but it was also a lot of fun.

In the modern annals of auto racing, there are a handful of people, who, behind-the-scenes, played pivotal roles in the Sport. Billy “Bones” Miller was one of those individuals. When referring to Billy as an angel, it’s not in the heavenly sense of halos and wings but as a person of great generosity. Sadly, on the 28th of March, he did earn those wings.

First a bit of background information. A So-Cal kid, Billy started attending the drags at Santa Ana in the mid ’50s and then other local tracks especially Lions. He made fast friends with many of the area’s racers including Tom “The Mongoo$e” McEwen and Don “The Snake” Prudhomme. While his friends developed their racing careers, Billy focused his time and intellect on the restaurant industry. He started out at a Jack-In-the-Box drive-in and ended up owning twelve very lucrative Sizzler Family Steakhouses throughout the Los Angeles area.

In preparation for this piece, some of those who had been very close to Billy were contacted: Pat Galvin, Donnie Couch, Skip Hess, Lynn Rose, Tom Prock, Roland Leong and Don “The Snake” Prudhomme. To a person, they spoke at length and very fondly of Billy’s extreme kindness, generosity, loyalty and friendship, sharing stories which exemplified those traits.